Palm oil up

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures traded slightly higher in quiet trade on Friday ahead of the release of official data for September, but were set to finish the week stronger after two consecutive weeks of declines.

The benchmark palm oil contract for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.1 percent at 2,722 ringgit ($642.74) a tonne at the midday break. The contract has gained 1 percent so far this week, hitting a one-week high on Thursday, after two straight weekly falls.

Traded volumes stood at 17,404 lots of 25 tonnes each at Friday noon. "The market is quiet today, it lacks direction as people are waiting for the data," said a trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to the monthly data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).